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Bonjour

I am chandni, Welcome to the spoon of joy, which has been created by labour of my love for cooking and my journey to be savoured. I truely believe that The chief pleasure in cooking does not consist in costly seasoning, or exquisite flavour, but in yourself.” Horace (65-8 B.C.) Roman lyric poet. The spoon of joy is class-cooking-dining experience, brining in together friends and food and cherishing some dazzling memoirs. Food is gorgeous in various phases – when it is raw, in the process of being cooked, and evidently at the time when its being served. Capturing that and writing the recipes for that has been the goal of my blog! Hope you take pleasure in reading my recipes!

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The
weather has turnedand the evening
getting darker, and in the blink of the eye it will be Christmas. We all
working to making festive as joyful as we can.This cheery season is my favorite
time of the year. Meeting people for one or the other reason, that brings the
spirit of Christmas out in all of us. In the run up to Christmas,I love to startthe festive evening withthese more fashionable moctails. I choose
tocelebrate the holiday season with this classic berry drink, it fits the Christmas
theme so perfectly. Viola, have a Fresh, fruity and fizzyChristmas with this Berry Moctail.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup cranberry juice

1 cup orange and passion fruit juice

¼ cup lemon juice

1 cup soda water or
lemonade

crushed ice

10 strawberries

10 raspberries

5 blackberries

5 blueberries

Tip in all the ingredients
into an electric blender . Blend until smooth. Serve with a fresh slice of
lemon and berry of your choice.

There is so much
joy, so much excitement in the air, yes it’s the Christmas season, preparing to
celebrate the birth of our Messiah! There are plenty many ways to enjoy a holy
and a jolly ways to enjoy this beautiful festive season, oh I love writing the
cards and wrapping up the gifts for my loved ones! Yes baking mince pies.
Setting up the Christmas tree, making it a big event by heating up that creamy
hot chocolate, nothing can be more satisfying that seeing that Christmas tree glittering
with all the decorations and the gifts boxes beneath. Well what if I want to go a bit further and
make this festive season a bit more celebrating? What if I make a classic
Christmas Coffee? Oh yeah! I can only
find reasons to stir in the warmth of
some coffee into this the Christmas preparations. From wrapping the
gifts, to deciding the menu for the Christmas meal, this amazing Classic
Christmas Coffee finds its way as we head towards Christmas! And like Susan Simmer says ‘A merry coffee to warm the whiskers with’.

This recipe has been adapted from Susan Simmer’s I Love
Coffee.

INGREDIENTS

45 ml brandy,

140 ml steamed milk,

2 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
syrup,

¾ cup freshly brewed coffee,

Whipping cream to serve,

Cinnamon stick to garnish,

Combine the brandy, and 1 ½ teaspoons of cinnamon syrup in a heated mug or cup.

Add the steamed milk to this.

Fill the rest of the cup with coffee,

In a small bowl, combine the whip cream with the remaining 1
teaspoon of cinnamon syrup and whip until soft peaks form.

Garnish the coffee with whipped cream with the help of a
piping bag and serve with a cinnamon stick.

At the end of the busy week, I had an
extensive roll in my mind of to
do list. I truly wanted to bake something out of the ordinary for the weekend.
My mind was inundated with ideas I thought, I would have been able to get
through it even if I had a whole year off just to bake, but that’s okay,
I will get to it all sooner or later! These dazzling cinnamon and
raisin bagels were right at the pinnacle of my roll. I initially made bagels last summer, and
after making them fruitfully quite a few times since, I have been in the making
to endeavor some variations. Cinnamon raisin was reasonably the foremost
picking, and trust me these bagels were ohheavens. I used the recipe
from Peter Reinhart's Break Baker's Apprentice.I had no idea that it will get so enhanced than just the
ordinary home-made bagels, but now we’ve gone to a whole other
altitude of these awe-inspiring beauties. I am now absolutely motivated
to try loads more flavoured adaptations, some customary and perhaps
some not so traditional. Oh everyone will find these homemade bagels so
irresistible!

Sponge

1 teaspoon instant
yeast

4 cups (18 oz) bread
flour

2 1/2 cups (20 oz)
water, at room temperature

Dough

1/2 teaspoon instant
yeast

3 3/4 cups (17 oz)
bread flour

1 tablespoon ground
cinnamon

5 tablespoons sugar

2 3/4 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon honey
or brown sugar

2 cups loosely
packed raisins, rinsed

To Finish

1 tablespoon baking
soda

cornmeal for dusting

To make the sponge:
Whisk the yeast and flour together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the water
and whisk until incorporated - the mixture will be fairly thick and sticky.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for about 2
hours, or until the mixture becomes very bubbly and swells to almost double its
original size.

To make the dough:
Add the additional yeast to the sponge and stir to incorporate. Add 3 cups of
the flour, the cinnamon, sugar, salt and brown sugar (or honey) and attach the
bowl to your stand mixer, fitted with the dough hook. Mix on low speed until
the ingredients come together in a ball, gradually adding the remaining 3/4 cup
flour to stiffen the dough. In the last few minutes of mixing, add the raisins
and allow the mixer to incorporate them into the dough.

Kneading the dough:
You can continue to knead in your mixer, but fair warning, the dough is very
heavy. I didn't want to risk damaging my mixer so I did it by hand. By hand
you'll have to knead the dough for at least 10 minutes - you want a pliable,
smooth dough that's satiny and not tacky to the touch. You can add additional
water or flour as necessary to achieve the right consistency.

Divide the dough
into 4 1/2 oz pieces for the bagels (that will make a fairly large bagel so
feel free to use smaller portions if you prefer). Shape each piece into a roll
and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover with a damp towel and allow
to rest for about 20 minutes.

Line two baking
sheets with parchment and spray them lightly with nonstick cooking spray.

To shape the bagels:
Flatten the ball of dough slightly then poke a hole through the center. Stretch
and rotate the dough until the hole is about 2 1/2 inches in diameter (or
slightly smaller if you've made your portions less than 4 1/2 oz each). Transfer
to the prepared baking sheet and repeat with all of the dough balls (dividing
them evenly between the two baking sheets). Spray the tops of the bagels
lightly with nonstick cooking spray and cover each baking sheet loosely with
plastic wrap. Allow to sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes.

To determine whether
the bagels are ready to be retarded in the refrigerator use the "float
test." Fill a small bowl with room temperature water and place one of the
bagels in the water. If the bagel floats within 10 seconds of being placed in
the water, they are ready to move to the fridge. If so, remove the bagel from
the water, pat dry and place back on the baking sheet. (Note: you only need to
test one bagel - not all of them.) If the bagel doesn't float, continue to
proof at room temperature and perform the float test again every 10-20 minutes,
or until it floats. When the bagels are ready to be retarded, place the loosely
covered baking sheets in the refrigerator overnight (or up to 2 days).

When you're ready to
bake the bagels, preheat oven to 500 F, with racks in the upper and lower
thirds of the oven. Bring a large pot (the wider the pot, the better) of water
to a boil, then add the baking soda.

Remove the bagels
from the refrigerator. A few at a time (as many as can comfortably fit in your
pot), drop them into the boiling water. They should float to the top fairly
quickly. Boil for 1 minute per side, flipping them with a spider strainer.
While the bagels are boiling, dust the baking sheets they were on with
cornmeal. Remove the bagels to the dusted baking sheets and repeat until
they've all been boiled.

Bake both pans of
bagels in the oven for about 5 minutes, then rotate the pans (switch the racks
they're on and give them a 180-degree flip). Reduce the oven temperature to 450
F and continue baking for another 5 minutes, or until the bagels are light
golden brown. Transfer the pans to wire racks and let the bagels cool for at
least 15 minutes before serving.

It’s the commencement of September and here I am to excite the devil in you with this luscious Devil’s Food cake. This devil's food cake is an absolute quintessential chocolate cake. It is so dense, so moist and so rich with the dark chocolate frosting . This cake is absolutely gratifying only a true chocolate love would know. . The frosting is a dark chocolate frosting, so thick just sticks to the palate of your mouth. The combination of muscavado sugar and unsweetened chocolate, brings out this frosting so dark, so rich, and so intense. This frosting combined with the devil's food cake, this is simply a heavenly combination. There is something so special about this chocolate cake, no heaps of the densely sweet butter-cream, oh just the chocolate cake and the chocolate frosting. Don’t go by the name, you simply would love this chocolate cake. I choose the recipe from Nigella Lawson’s recipe and I simply adore all her recipes, they work out miracles for me. Everyone was so impressed with the Cake, they asked me more than once, ‘Did you make it?’

The Cake

50 Grams Cocoa powder sifted

100 Grams Dark muscovado sugar

250 Millilitres Water boiling

125 Grams Unsalted butter soft - (plus some for greasing)

150 Grams Caster sugar

225 Grams Plain flour

1 Teaspoon baking powder

1 Teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 Teaspoon Vanilla extract

2 Medium Eggs

Frosting

125 Millilitres Water

30 Grams Dark muscovado sugar

175 Grams Unsalted butter cubed

300 Grams Dark chocolate finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.

Line the bottoms of both sandwich tins with baking parchment and butter the sides.

Put the cocoa and 100g dark muscovado sugar into a bowl with a bit of space to spare, and pour in the boiling water. Whisk to mix, then set aside.

Cream the butter and caster sugar together, beating well until pale and fluffy;

While this is going on – or as soon as you stop if you’re mixing by hand – stir the flour, baking powder and bicarb together in another bowl, and set aside for a moment.

Dribble the vanilla extract into the creamed butter and sugar – mixing all the while – then drop in 1 egg, quickly followed by a scoopful of flour mixture, then the second egg.

Keep mixing and incorporate the rest of the dried ingredients for the cake, then finally mix and fold in the cocoa mixture, scraping its bowl well with a spatula.

Divide this fabulously chocolatey batter between the 2 prepared tins and put in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Take the tins out and leave them on a wire rack for 5–10 minutes, before turning the cakes out to cool.

But as soon as the cakes are in the oven, get started on your frosting: put the water, 30g muscovado sugar and 175g butter in a pan over a low heat to melt.

When this mixture begins to bubble, take the pan off the heat and add the chopped chocolate, swirling the pan so that all the chocolate is hit with heat, then leave for a minute to melt before whisking till smooth and glossy.

Leave for about 1 hour, whisking now and again – when you’re passing the pan – by which time the cakes will be cooled, and ready for the frosting.

Set one of the cooled cakes, with its top side down, on a cake stand or plate, and spread with about a third of the frosting, then top that with the second cake, regular way up, and spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides, swirling away with your spatula. You can go for a smooth look, but I never do and probably couldn’t.

It was my very own dearest Farzana’s birthday and we both strongly believe that ‘Vegetables are a must on a diet I suggest: carrot cake, zucchini bread and pumpkin pie’ . Wink Wink! I couldn’t have thought of anything other than a luxury carrot cake recipe packed with nuts, spices and golden sultanas, the lightest of all and the most enticingly moist cake, oh yes the mighty carrot cake, oh this carrot cake bursting with the freshness of the carrots, speckled by chopped pecans, and stunned by almond flakes, the crunch from the nuts and punch from the spices, with the perfect cream cheese frosting with the lemony twist, makes this incredibly moist and soft carrot cake so delightful. Don’t even contemplate on just a tiny slice of this cake because for sure you will be back for more, not mention only a few crumbs left to mark the carrot cake only after a few moments of the cake cutting ritual. The smiles, the expressions of being so gratified with this heavenly, divine and blissful cake, are to reminisce for the rest of our lives. The cherry on cake for this post is that the photos are taken by our very own pro food photography Farzana, which makes the whole process all the more special!

Photo Courtesy: Farzana Rahman

FROSTED CARROT CAKE

INGREDIENTS

175ml sunflower oil,

175 gms muscavodo sugar,

3 eggs beaten,

175 gms grated carrots,

85 gms sultnas,

55 gms walnut pieces,

Grated rind of 1 orange,

175 gms self-raising flour,

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda,

1 tsp ground cinnamon,

½ tsp grated nutmeg,

Nuts and candy carrots to decorate

FROSTING

200 gms full-fat soft cheese,

100 gms icing sugar,

2 tsp organge juice,

½ tsp vanilla essence

Preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line the base of a 8 inch square cake tin.

In a large bowl bet together the oil, muscavado sugar and eggs. Stir in the grated carrots, sultanas, walnuts an orange rind.

Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and nutmeg, then stir evenly into the carrot mixture.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, until well-risen and firm to the touch.

Remove the cake from the oven and set on wire rack for five minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

For the frosting, combine the soft cheese, icing sugar, orange juice and vanilla essence in a bowl and beat until smooth. Spread over the top of the cake and swirl with a palette knife to give a frosted look. Decorate with nuts and candy carrots.

Craving for vanila or chocolate ? oh both! Chocolate and vanilla marble loaf! Here is the recipe for the week. Oh this loaf with the divine twirls of white and brown, so gorgeous just invokes the childhood memories of marble cake, what more I can satisfy my cravings for a vanilla and chocolate at the same time.The perfect Ying and Yang of deepchocolateandvanilla make a perfect tea time treat!

INGREDIENTS

55 gms plain chocolate,

3 tbsp milk,

70 gms unsalted butter, extra for greasing,

85 gms caster sugar,

1 egg beaten,

3 tbsp soured cream,

115 gms self-raising flour,

½ tsp baking powder,

½ tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to gas mark 3. Grease a 450 gms/ 1 lb loaf tin and line the base with a non-stick baking paper. Dust a little extra flour around the inside of the tin,

Break the chocolate into pieces, place in a small heat proof bowl with the milk and set over a suace pan of simmering water. Heat gnetly until just melted. Remove from the heat and keep aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffly. Beat in the egg and soured cream. Sift the flour and baking powder over the mixture, then fold in lightly and evenly using a metal spoon.

Spoon half the mixture into a separate bowl and stir in the chocolate mixture. Add the vanilla extract to the plain mixture. Spoon the Chocolate and vanilla mixture alternatively into prepared loaf tin, swirling lightly with a knife to get the marbled effect. Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until well risen and firm to the touch.

Cool in the tin for ten minutes then turn out and finish cooling on a wire rack.

Sometimes I am beyond doubt flabbergasted at how effortless it is to throw a few undemanding ingredients and in return, generate something gorgeous and stimulating. A few easy ingredients is all it took today to prepare this extra-ordinary and mouth-watering appetizer. Oh so rich, so savory and so intense the flavours of this garlic sautéed mushrooms. I was quite delighted how the recipe turned out. So healthy, so vivid so aromatic. I absolutely love how the mushrooms holds the flavours of garlic and the olive oil. The simple mishmash of mushrooms, garlic, olive oil and the parsley, indeed produced an extra-ordinary result. Served on a gorgeous baguette, its a just the thing for a lazy, decadent afternoon.

Ingredients

450gms button mushrooms,

5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil,

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped,

juice of one lemon,

salt and pepper to taste,

4 tbsp chopped parsley

Wipe the mushrooms with the kitchen paper, trim the stalks closer to the caps. Heat the oil in heavy based frying pan, add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, or until lightly browned.

Add the mushrooms and sauté over high heat, stirring all the time, until the mushrooms have absored all the oil.Bring the heat down, when the juices of the mushroom begin to come out, bring the heat on high again and sauté for five minutes, stirring all the time, until all the juices have been evaporated. Add the salt and pepper, tip in the lemon juice. Add the parsley and cook for another minute. Transfer the mushrooms to a warmed serving dish and serve piping hot.

Oh hummus, such an adorable dip, hmm let me count the ways I can relish this! I can eat it with carrots and cucumber, or chips and crackers ! Even better when spread on the tortillas and the sandwiches! Boost the flavour with sprinkling of some paprika and cumin, and this protein packed power house is ready in just a few minutes. How I adore this Hummus, it is just so finger licking good. I was all ready to plunge my three fingers into that bowl full of creamy, musky dip but then I thought I could be a tad more dainty with the pita chips instead,but this was so appetizing I ate it first with the pita then lick it off with my fingers!

Ingredients

225 gms dried chickpeas,

covered with water and soaked overnight,

juice of 2 large lemons,

150 ml tahini,

2 garlic cloves, crushed

4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil,

½ tsp ground cumin,

Salt and pepper,

1 tsp paprika

Drain the chickpeas, put in a saucepan, and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil then let simmer for about two hour

Drain the chickpeas, reserving some of the liquid and put in a food processor and blend it until smooth and creamy, mix in the lemon juice and the tahini, garlic and 3 tablespoons of olive oil and cumin and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

Transfer the hummus into a shallow serving dish and chill in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours before serving. Before serving, mix the reserved olive oil with the paprika and drizzle over the hummus.

A warm, just this minute made English muffin with the delicate smack of yeast-risen dough and a golden-brown crust indeed makes for a leisurely breakfast. So fluffy, so buttery, so airy with just the true quantity of nooks and crannies emm.!! With a just a handful of ingredients assorted in, fresh off the griddle, so chewy, so light! Split it open and the crusty exterior gives in way to the most delicate interior, light as air, yet a little chewy, bursting with peaks and crevices — these thrilling "nooks and crannies," made even more magical when the muffin halves waiting to be toasted soaked in butter or jam. What more, just too perfect for hollandaise!

INGREDIENTS

450 gms strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting,

50 gms semolina

½ tsp salt,

1 ½ tsp caster sugar,

1 ½ tsp easy-blend dried yeast,

250 ml luke warm water,

125 ml natural yogurt,

Vegetable oil for brushing

Sift the flour and salt together into a bowl and mix in the sugar and yeast. Make a well in the center and mix in the yogurt and water. Give it a good mix with a wooden spoon until the dough leaves the sides and begins to come together, start kneading the dough with your hands. Bring the dough down on a lightly floured surface and knead for upto ten minutes to get a smooth and elastic dough.

Brush a mixing bowl with olive oil, shape the dough into a ball, put the dough in the mixing bowl and cover it with a damp tea towel. Keep aside to rise for 45 minutes, until the dough has doubled in volume.

Prepare a baking tray by dusting with flour. Bring the dough on a lightly floored surface again and knead gently. Roll out a dough to a thickness of ½ inch. Stamp out circles with 3 inch cookie cutter and sprinkle semolina over each muffin. Transfer the muffins to the prepared baking tray and cover it with a damp tea towel and allow it to rise for 45 minutes.

Heat a pan with a thick base or a griddle over medium heat and brush the pan gently with oil. Cook the muffins in batches 5-7 minutes each side, until golden brown.

So amigos are we ready to go a tad further? A loaded, crescent shaped, roll from home made puff pastry? Yes the home made Croissant straight from the oven in my own kitchen! The kind of indulgence I thought I would never dream of making it in my own kitchen, up until now, but hurray I have done it now! And mysteriously, now that i have done them, i am wondering why did not do it earlier. Indeed, these croissants are an excellence! Flaky, buttery, just a tiny bit crispy on the outer surface but springy to a breathtaking soft inside. And yeah, up on the list is with them on the chocolate inside! The process is long involving a list of efforts, but oh, the end result is so worth the efforts!

INGREDIENTS

500 gms strong white flour,

1 egg lightly beaten,

2 tsp easy-blend dried yeast,

40 gms caster sugar,

1 tsp salt,

300 ml lukewarm milk,

300 gms softened butter,

1 tbsp milk for glazing

Preheat the oven to Gas mark 6/ 200 C/400 F.

Mix all the dry ingredients into a big mixing bowl, make a well in the center and pour in the milk. Knead to make a soft dough, incase the dough becomes too dry, add in some more milk. Bring the dough on a lightly floured surface, for 5 to ten minutes to get a smooth and elastic dough. Grease a big mixing bowl with butter, cover it with a moist kitchen cloth and leave in a warm place until the dough doubles in size.

Place the butter between two sheets of baking paper, and roll it with a rolling pin to get a rectangle of about ¼ inch thick. Keep it in the refrigerator to chill.

Knead the dough for 1 minute. Remove the butter from the refrigerator. Roll out the dough on well-floured surface to get a square of 18 X 6 inches. Place the butter in the center, folding up the sides and squeezing the edges gently. With the short end of the sides and squeezing the edges together gently, with the short end of dough towards yourself, fold the top third down towards the center, then fold the bottom third up. Give the dough a quarter turn, roll out as big as the orginal rectangle and fold again. Repeat this process two more times.

Cut the dough in to half. Roll out each half into a rectangle ¼ inch thick. Tidy the edges to get a rectangle. Cut out into triangles to roll into croissants.

Brush the triangles lightly with the glaze. Start with each triangle with the point and roll it tightly towards the base. Leave them on the baking tray for an hour to double in size and bake them in the pre-heated oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Today indeed is a grand day and this post out of the ordinary! Today I celebrate a breathtaking milestone I started a year ago, The Spoon of Joy! Ahem! A year older, a year completed, and so much has changed ! This inspires me to go back and time and reflect on the wonderful experience of this year with The Spoon of Joy! I started writing this blog as an expression of my love for cooking. The relationship with Spoon of Joy changed the way I looked at life, my passion of cooking reached to a different altar altogether. The responses that came from friends and people unknown in form of comments, and emails made these wonderful people part of my life. And it wasn’t long when I realized that The Spoon of Joy metamorphosed from being a blog to a diary of a my travelling experiences inspiring me to look more for new recipes, foods from different cultures, meeting of new people and friends who taught me different ways to cook and a deeper insight to their recipes being passed down from generations. This blog has become my dream which I live every day, and this helps me find motivation every day and everywhere I go to look for a new recipe, new way of presenting the recipe to the world! Talking about motivation, this blog gave me a new motivation for photographing food and presenting the beauty of food in its different stages, this helped me welcomed my new Canon Digital SLR not long go on my birthday, and my very dear friends Farzana and Mehedi made use of my new camera to take pictures of this awesome chocolate fudge cake to celebrate the birthday of my baby turned one, and wish for many more celebrations to come! And a special thanks to all my friends and well-wishers who made this dream come true! Happy First Birthday Spoon of Joy!

INGREDIENTS

175 gms unsalted butter,

175gms golden caster sugar,

3 eggs beate,

3 tbsp golden syrup,

40 gms ground almonds,

175 gms self-raising flour,

Pinch of salt

40 gms cocoa powder

FOR THE ICING

225 gms of unsalted butter

½ tsp vanilla extract

225 gms of plain chocolate,

55 gms muscavado sugar,

5 tbsp evaporated milk

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4. Grease and line the bases of two 8 inch sandwich tins

In the mean time prepare for the icing by putting the chocolate, sugar, butter and the evaporated milk and the vanilla extract in a heave based saucepan. On a low heat, keep stirring until melted, transfer to a bowl, let it cool. Cover with a cling film and chill in the refrigerator for an hour. The icing should have become spreadable by then.

In another mixing bowl, take the butter and sugar and beat with an electric beater until light and fluffy. Gradually add in the eggs, then the golden syrup and the ground almonds. Take another bowl, sift in the flour, salt and cocoa powder and fold this in the bowl with the egg mixture. If the batter looks too thick add in some water to make the batter of dropping consistency.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tins and bake for 30 minutes, check with the tooth pick test.

Let the cakes cool in the tin for few minutes, then transfer to the wire racks to cool completely. Sandwich the cakes with the help of the icing, spread the remaining icing on the top of the cake with the help of the spatula knife, swirling it to give a frosted appearance.

With signs of spring in the air, and the entertainment all sewed up for Easter Sunday, it was time to bake these Traditional Easter Biscuits, the process of baking accompanied by photo shoot from Andra! These delicate spiced up biscuits infused with the flavour of fruits, to be shared with guests over tea time on Easter Sunday! An effortless combination of flour, butter, egg yolk, and spices with fruits, turned them into these delicious golden beauties, oh so good to taste, these Traditional Easter cookies are just not for Easter but all year around! Happy Easter!

INGREDIENTS

225 gms of softened butter,

140 gms of caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling,

1 egg yolk, lightly beaten,

280 gms plain flour,

1 tsp mixed spice,

Pinch of salt,

1 tbsp chopped mixed peel,

55 gms currants,

1 egg white, lightly beaten

Mix the butter and sugar in a bowl with a wooden spoon and mix in the egg yolk, sift in the flour, salt, and mixed spice and tip in the currants and mixed peel and combine till the time you get soft dough. Divide the dough into two, wrap it in a cling film and refrigerate for an hour.

Remove the Clingfilm from the dough and roll out between two sheets of baking papers. Use a 2 ½ fluted cookie cutter, to cut out into biscuits and put them on the baking trays, spaced well apart.

Bake in the preheated oven for seven minutes, then brush with the egg white and sprinkle with some caster sugar. Put them back in the oven and bake for another 10 minutes, until golden brown. Leave to cool first in the baking tray for about ten minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Easter Sunday is only a few days away, and around this moment in time, all the local supermarkets are advertising Easter eggs chocolates and candies, in special sizes. Who can resist their attractiveness? When I came across these mini Easter egg sweets, I knew what I was going to do the next with them; they are just the thing for making Easter egg cupcakes. These cupcakes are absolute fun to make, a wonderful treat to the eyes, just so great for this Easter holiday!

MAKES 12

INGREDIENTS

115 gms softened butter,

115 gms caster sugar,

2 eggs, lightly beaten,

85 gms self-raising flour,

25 gms cocoa powder

For the icing

85 gms butter,

175 gms icing,

1 tbsp milk,

2-3 drops of vanilla essence,

Mini Easter eggs to put in the nest

FOR THE CUPCAKES

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4. Place 12 cup cases into a bun tin.

Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat together until light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time and keep beating the mixture after each addition. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and mix with a wooden spoon. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until well risen and firm to touch. Transfer to the wire rack and allow to cool completely.

FOR THE ICING

Place the butter in a bowl, sift in the icing, and beat together with a hand mixer, adding milk and vanilla extract. Put the butter cream in a piping bag, with a star nozzle, and pipe a circle around the edge of each cup cake to resemble a nest. Place the Easter eggs in the centre of each nest.

I was so looking forward to waking up this Sunday, It was going to be so special, so exciting, my Romanian best buddies, Andra and Fu were going to teach me how to make the Romanian pie! A recipe passed down from generations in their region! I had to be very excited, but wait! Farzana, calls me and says she wants to do a photo shoot for the recipe, Cherry on the Romanian Pie!!,

I always thought being in the kitchen is the reason of my existence and my love for baking defines me, and this experience changed the way I look at my passion for cooking! It was once in a lifetime experience, baking the pie with Andra and Fu, when I kept writing down every single ingredients and every step not to ever miss a single thing when Farzana kept taking the pictures on every step, not to mentions the laughters, the hugs, aww a day to remember, Andra had bought all the essences from Romania, the fragrance so fresh, so strong! I could already smell the pie! Arg! Couldn’t wait for the pie to bake, when the pie came out of the over, the aroma took over the house, and we were confused to do the photo shoot first or eat the pie first! Yes Indeed, the pie was perfectly peachy! The photos just so professional, and the love we shared unfathomable ! yes this is my favorite post forever to cherish!

INGREDIENTS

250gm unsalted butter,

250 grams castor sugar,

1 teaspoon lemon essence,

1 teaspoon vanila essence,

20 gms baking powder,

Six eggs

4 tablespoon whole milk,

400 gms plain flour

1 can peaches

Line a baking tray with a greaseproof baking paper. Preheat the oven to 170C.

Beat the sugar and butter till pale and fluffly with a mixer. Tip in the lemon essence and the baking powder. Keeping adding one egg at a time and keep mixing. Add in the milk.

Keep adding the flour, in small parts and give it a good mix every time. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking tray and spread it with the help of a spatula. Line up the peaches and bake for 45 minutes till the toothpick test comes out clean.

When I can already smell spring, it only means more holidays and parties lined up! One of my favorite recipes from my repertoire for spring is dips. Yes you got it right! on the top of the list has to be the mighty Guacamole dip, absolutely chunky, bursting with the punch from garlic and the zest from the lemon! On my way to a supermarket, I stuck a pot of gold with this bag of dark green and perfectly ripe baby avocados, the next to make this fruity sweet and sour dip, bursting with flavors, to go along with anything from chips to nachos and tortillas! Enjoy!

Recipe 4 baby ripe avocados, juice of 1/2 lime, 4 cherry tomatoes, 2 tsp olive oil, one small onion finely chopped, one green chilly finely chopped, 1 garlic glove finely chopped,1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro, and some sprigs for garnishing, salt and pepper to taste.Cut the avocados into half, and twist the 2 halves and get the stone out with the help of a sharp knife.

Peel the avocadas, then chop them, in place them in a bowl, add the oil and lemon juice.

Mash the avocados, with a wooden spoon, until the desired consistency is reached, either smooth or chunky, add in the onion, garlic, chillies, cummin, cherry tomatoes, and the chopped cilantro, then season with salt and pepper. Garnish with a cherry tomato and the cilantro sprigs and Servce immediately.